Have you ever heard or read a statement that something was "not morally innocent" or "not politically innocent" and wondered what supposedly made it guilty (or why the person making the statement wants to portray it as 'morally or politically guilty')? Most Humanities uni students will probably have come across such statements.
The following excerpt by Terry Breverton about Jean Jacques Rousseau may help you with some answers:
Rousseau believed that it was impossible to return to the innocence of the 'noble savage' [an idea that people are naturally good until corrupted by interacting with other people] so individuals would have to contract with each other to enter society. From the isolated selves of individuals a collective entity is therefore formed which can both legislate for and embody its individual members. The nature of freedom is changed by the act of contract. Before contracting, man's freedom lies in pursuing his individual interests, but afterwards freedom consists in obeying 'the general will.' Rousseau fled from France (helped by David Hume) and settled in Switzerland, but he continued to find difficulties with the authorities and quarrel with friends. The end of his life was marked in large part by his growing paranoia and his continued attempts to justify his life and his work. His writings inspired many of the leaders of the French revolution, leading Napoleon to comment at Rousseau's tomb: 'Maybe it would have been better if neither of us had been born.'
Write a story in which one character insists that another character is involved in a specific sort of 'social contract' (and maybe insists the character is guilty of breaching it) but the other character disagrees, leading to problems between the characters.
What characters think about themself and each other
The following quote is attributed to Isaac Newton:
I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.
His epitaph, composed by Alexander Pope, read:
Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night: God said "Let Newton be!" and all was light.
Use the above two quotes as inspiration to write a story about a character who makes a claim like Newton's and another character who makes a claim like Pope's about the first character.
I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.
His epitaph, composed by Alexander Pope, read:
Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night: God said "Let Newton be!" and all was light.
Use the above two quotes as inspiration to write a story about a character who makes a claim like Newton's and another character who makes a claim like Pope's about the first character.
Inspiration from Fred Nwonwu
Fred Nwonwu began his story Taming of the Plains Lion with:
The lion was born without fur; her white skin glittered in the morning light, as naked as a human baby. The sun had not yet risen and the cold wind that travelled across the night still blew from down the valley making her shiver and her vocal cords opened up wide to allow for the passage of a shrill cry that rents the morning’s ambiance. It was a cry that conveyed distress enough to break many a heart, filled with longings and pleading for care, but it moved not the birth mother.
That great lioness was deaf to her child’s call. She only managed, once, to pad over and sniff at her like she had done before, right after the cub was born, before rejecting her all over again, choosing rather to pay heed to her other cubs who appear whole.
Use the above as inspiration to write a story about human characters.
The lion was born without fur; her white skin glittered in the morning light, as naked as a human baby. The sun had not yet risen and the cold wind that travelled across the night still blew from down the valley making her shiver and her vocal cords opened up wide to allow for the passage of a shrill cry that rents the morning’s ambiance. It was a cry that conveyed distress enough to break many a heart, filled with longings and pleading for care, but it moved not the birth mother.
That great lioness was deaf to her child’s call. She only managed, once, to pad over and sniff at her like she had done before, right after the cub was born, before rejecting her all over again, choosing rather to pay heed to her other cubs who appear whole.
Use the above as inspiration to write a story about human characters.
A synopsis as inspiration
Cynthia Voigt's novel On Fortune's Wheel, set in a medieval-Europe-like Kingdom, is summed up in the book blurb as follows:
Birle has agreed to be wed to the huntsman Muir as an escape from the drudgery of life at her father's inn - but the moment she looks into the bellflower blue eyes of the man she comes upon stealing one of her father's boats, Birle knows she cannot marry Muir. Even after she discovers the mysterious stranger is Orien, a Lord and as unreachable to an innkeeper's daughter as a star, Birle is determined to travel with him as far as he will allow.
Their travels take Birle to a world far from home, a world where Lords may become slaves, where Princes rule by fear, and where Fortune's Wheel turns more swiftly and dangerously than Birle ever could have imagined.
Use the above synopsis as inspiration to write a story.
Birle has agreed to be wed to the huntsman Muir as an escape from the drudgery of life at her father's inn - but the moment she looks into the bellflower blue eyes of the man she comes upon stealing one of her father's boats, Birle knows she cannot marry Muir. Even after she discovers the mysterious stranger is Orien, a Lord and as unreachable to an innkeeper's daughter as a star, Birle is determined to travel with him as far as he will allow.
Their travels take Birle to a world far from home, a world where Lords may become slaves, where Princes rule by fear, and where Fortune's Wheel turns more swiftly and dangerously than Birle ever could have imagined.
Use the above synopsis as inspiration to write a story.
Using sound in cinema and fiction
Jane Knowles Marshall, in an article on filmsound.org, has written:
Though we might think of film as an essentially visual experience, we really cannot afford to underestimate the importance of film sound. A meaningful sound track is often as complicated as the image on the screen. The entire sound track is comprised of three essential ingredients:
- the human voice
- sound effects
- music
Write a scene for cinema or fiction with emphasis on using the human voice, sound effects and music together in the scene.
Though we might think of film as an essentially visual experience, we really cannot afford to underestimate the importance of film sound. A meaningful sound track is often as complicated as the image on the screen. The entire sound track is comprised of three essential ingredients:
- the human voice
- sound effects
- music
Write a scene for cinema or fiction with emphasis on using the human voice, sound effects and music together in the scene.
Writing a character with a new lifestyle
The synopsis of the movie A Simple Plan, on the back of the DVD cover reads:
The lives of three small town people are turned upside down when they discover a small plane concealed by snow in the mountains. Inside the plane could be the only way out of their insufficient lives, in the form of a duffel bag containing four million in cash next to the dead pilot. Two of the men, Jacob and Lou, are eager to keep the money but have a hard time convincing Jacob's brother, Hank, not to turn it in. Hank agrees, but on one condition, he will hold the cash until it is safe to keep. It's a simple plan and all goes well until Jacob overreacts to an untimely visit by a neighbour and the plan begins to unravel. With loyalties frayed each person involved must decide how far they are willing to go to cling to their ill-gotten fortune.
Use the above as inspiration to write a story about a character who finds a way out an insufficient life not by finding money, but by finding a new way of behaving.
The lives of three small town people are turned upside down when they discover a small plane concealed by snow in the mountains. Inside the plane could be the only way out of their insufficient lives, in the form of a duffel bag containing four million in cash next to the dead pilot. Two of the men, Jacob and Lou, are eager to keep the money but have a hard time convincing Jacob's brother, Hank, not to turn it in. Hank agrees, but on one condition, he will hold the cash until it is safe to keep. It's a simple plan and all goes well until Jacob overreacts to an untimely visit by a neighbour and the plan begins to unravel. With loyalties frayed each person involved must decide how far they are willing to go to cling to their ill-gotten fortune.
Use the above as inspiration to write a story about a character who finds a way out an insufficient life not by finding money, but by finding a new way of behaving.
Characters learning lessons
Kristin Thompson has written the following about the movie Groundhog Day:
The film's trajectory is a bit like that of Tootsie, where the actor Michael had to learn how to be decent to women. At the start of Groundhog Day, however, Phil is much worse than Michael ever was, insulting everyone around him. It is almost as if Tootsie had been made with the goal of reforming not Michael but Ron, the TV director. Michael had to learn his lesson by fairly extreme means - posing as a woman - but Phil's transformation will require even more. Indeed, such a drastic character change is unusual for a classical narrative. Still, as I will show, a great deal of motivating material is provided.
Choose a story and develop a basic idea about what a major character learned throughout the story. Imagine how the story might be different if one of the other characters learned a similar lesson and use that as inspiration to write a story.
The film's trajectory is a bit like that of Tootsie, where the actor Michael had to learn how to be decent to women. At the start of Groundhog Day, however, Phil is much worse than Michael ever was, insulting everyone around him. It is almost as if Tootsie had been made with the goal of reforming not Michael but Ron, the TV director. Michael had to learn his lesson by fairly extreme means - posing as a woman - but Phil's transformation will require even more. Indeed, such a drastic character change is unusual for a classical narrative. Still, as I will show, a great deal of motivating material is provided.
Choose a story and develop a basic idea about what a major character learned throughout the story. Imagine how the story might be different if one of the other characters learned a similar lesson and use that as inspiration to write a story.
Writing about people skills
In How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie wrote:
Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain - and most fools do.
Write a story about a character who criticizes, condemns and complains and how they overcome these habits.
Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain - and most fools do.
Write a story about a character who criticizes, condemns and complains and how they overcome these habits.
Combining prompts
Select the titles of two Daily Writing Prompts from the right-hand column and combine them however you like as inspiration to write a story about someone seeking a new start in a new place.
What happens beyond unaided human sight
According to a post on movingimagesource.us about the BBC documentary series Life:
An early voiceover from the "Insects" episode [says]: "Because they are so small, we rarely see how extraordinary they really are." With insects, the issue is scale, not time, and it is macrophotography, rather than time-lapse, that allows us to "enter their world." In both instances, though, Life claims to offer unique access to nature through its innovative use of technology, to reveal behavior that is invisible to the human eye.
Write a story that involves seeing things that are not discernible to human sight without the aid of extra equipment.
An early voiceover from the "Insects" episode [says]: "Because they are so small, we rarely see how extraordinary they really are." With insects, the issue is scale, not time, and it is macrophotography, rather than time-lapse, that allows us to "enter their world." In both instances, though, Life claims to offer unique access to nature through its innovative use of technology, to reveal behavior that is invisible to the human eye.
Write a story that involves seeing things that are not discernible to human sight without the aid of extra equipment.
Storytelling through action and dialogue
The following quote from Akira Kurosawa has been used in an article on thestorydepartment.com:
It’s easy to explain the psychological state of a character at a particular moment, but it’s very difficult to describe it through the delicate nuances of action and dialogue. Yet it is not impossible. A great deal about this can be learned from the study of the great plays, and I believe the “hard-boiled” detective novels can also be very instructive.
Write a story about a character who earns the trust of another character through their integrity, told through action and dialogue (that is, no 'internal dialogue,' description of character thoughts and feelings, description of memories and backstory etc).
It’s easy to explain the psychological state of a character at a particular moment, but it’s very difficult to describe it through the delicate nuances of action and dialogue. Yet it is not impossible. A great deal about this can be learned from the study of the great plays, and I believe the “hard-boiled” detective novels can also be very instructive.
Write a story about a character who earns the trust of another character through their integrity, told through action and dialogue (that is, no 'internal dialogue,' description of character thoughts and feelings, description of memories and backstory etc).
Using Daily Australia Focus as a prompt
Click on the link to Cinema and Fiction Daily Australia Focus, select one of the posts and use part or all of it as inspiration to write a story.
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